On our way to China town we stop for some smokes. First little bar doesn’t have my brand and they point to another place just a block away. Meanwhile, HD is parked by a curb in front of a bar. I get the smokes and head back to where HD is parked. I see a huge crowd of people around the car and everyone is yelling. Oh shit. HD is in some kind of trouble here. A cop is frantically waving at me and telling me to hurry. HD tells me someone is hurt and they need us to take them to the hospital. Two guys show up carrying another guy who is having some kind of seizure. They jump in the back seat, throw the guy across their laps and start….literally SCREAMING at us to get going. We have no idea where the hospital is located and I tell them to give us directions. Meanwhile, HD is racing through the streets of Havana (not an easy task BTW), lights flashing, horn blowing, running red lights and stop signs. People are getting out of our way. (I guess this is common and ambulances are rare.) Just find the nearest auto and off you go. Now, they are both screaming directions to me at the top of their lungs and to my surprise, they are giving different directions. I tell them that only one person gives directions and to quit screaming in my ears. They are quite excited and concerned for their friend. His seizure is getting worse. I really can’t figure out if he is choking, epileptic, on drugs or what but I finally convince them to turn his head sideways and bend his neck back so his air pipe will be open. (try to communicate that with a couple of crazed Cubans while speeding through the streets of Havana). Anyway, we finally get to the emergency room and he is whisked away on a gurney. Our passengers thank us and follow him in. HD and I just sit there and laugh about the whole episode happy that we were able to be of help. Another brick in the wall of life!

We have a great dinner in china town with Pepe and off to the disco we go. We pay our entrance fee and enter to the normal salsa music blasting and wall to wall people. HD and Pepe are chatting and one of the bartenders joins the conversation. I spy a trophy and walk over to the DJ to shake hands and get a closer look. Yep, she is a 9 with great tits, firm tight body and quite pretty to boot. The DJ tells me if I see anything I like just to let him know and he will help with the deal. Remember, we had tipped him rather well the first night we were there so he was anticipating another good take that night. I return to HD and the guys and get introduced to the bartender friend….let’s call him Eduardo. Since we are Pepes’ friends, he is telling us anything we need just tell him. I point out the prize to HD and he agrees she is a beauty. Eduardo walks over to her seeking an introduction but returns empty handed. Seems she and her friend are waiting on their boyfriends to arrive. We keep watching for a while and they are still solo. HD decided her friend isn’t too bad and maybe a package deal will work. Eduardo goes back and ups the ante for both of them with both of us. Now, he comes back empty handed telling us they are engaged…….errr probably not!

Time for another contest and the DJ is egging me to participate again. This time I refrain but he gets a couple of the ladies to participate. One is the little rubia from the first night that was with HD. One is my desired prey for the evening. She struts her model walk but is beaten out by HD’s rubia and as normal, the DJ claims a tie. Then the salsa contest starts. HOLY SHIT; to watch these girls shake their hips and ass in competition against one another. I thought they were going to dislocate something. The sweat glistening off my target made her even more intriguing. In the meantime, while watching in the crowd, I get this vision of tits under a white top (sans bra of course) and the perkiest puffy nipples I have seen in a while. New target acquired. Pepe does a little translation and with a little coaxing she is in agreement. 20 years old, not a beauty but a great body and those tits staring at me. Because of her reluctance, I conclude she is probably not really into the programa but money is money here. She agrees to 2 hours back at my casa. That’s OK because we have to get up and pack early in the morning anyway. We watch the contest for a while and she is dancing with me up against her ass (great way to learn how to do these latin dances by the way. Close physical contact and >>>just try….matching the motions. HD was getting lessons of his own with a 185 pound mulatto whose brother had dragged HD over for dance lessons (I told you I would get you back you bastard….he he!) Anyway, it was time for her and I to leave because she had to be home by 2AM. We hopped in a taxi to my casa, only a few blocks away and entered through the doorway. What happened next was a mongers worst nightmare;

There is a set of marble steps to climb as you enter the casa. She is wearing a denim jacket and has her hands inside the pockets. She gets up about 4 steps, slips and goes face down, right on the edge of a step with her hands still stuck inside her jacket pockets. She lets out a little scream and turns over with her hands covering her nose and face. I pull them away and there is a huge gash across the bridge of her nose and blood is gushing into her hands from the cut (not out of her nostrils).

I lead her up the rest of the stairwell dripping blood on almost every step and take her to my room and put her on the bed. I grab some paper towels and get some ice from the freezer. It is very apparent that she is in real pain. She doesn’t like the ice but I make her keep it on the bridge of her nose to keep the swelling down. I keep another towel compressed on the cut to stop the bleeding. I also get her some aspirin for the pain. She just can’t believe this has happened to her. (neither can I….damn it) She is suddenly very concerned about what she will tell her parents. Seems she has two older and much bigger brothers who will not let her be with Cuban men and they hate touristas even more. Oh shit. I envision two huge, glaring, angry, Cuban brothers knocking down my door for doing harm to their sister.

We work out a story to tell her family that she slipped and hit her nose on a curb. Finally, the bleeding stops and I get a tight band aid on the cut. Her face is swelling a little but not like it would if her nose was broken and the fact there had been no blood from the nostrils was a pretty good indicator as well.

HD arrives and sees all the blood on the stairs. He rushes up to make sure I am OK and I recant what had happened. He hangs around for a few minutes and takes off for bed. After about 30 minutes of settling her down, she needs to leave. I offer to walk her to a taxi since it is almost 1:30 in the morning. I separate from her about a block away from a taxi (discretion and all) and she leaves with $10 in her pocket for her troubles and a taxi.

HD had the audacity to ask me if I at least got a look at those tits. Did I pull up her blouse and feel them. Hell no, but I wish I had. I should have told her to remover her blouse to keep from getting blood on it. Twice in one night with emergencies and the Sandman, on our last night in Havana, goes to bed alone. At least my buddy HD wasn’t poking anything either.